After reading through several crockpot cookbooks, and reading the advice from readers to adapt my own recipes for use in the crockpot, I’ve been doing just that and have had several very good crockpot dinners. This one turned out excellent and had enough sauce left over that I made meatballs, added to the leftover sauce and we had those last night. Vince said it was some of the best sauce I’ve made!

1. Season the pork loin. (I did this the night before and let it sit in the fridge in a ziplock bag).
2. Brown the pork loin, on all sides, in the oil and place the loin in the crockpot.
3. Saute the onion and garlic in the oil/pan drippings. Add the fennel seed and continue to saute for another 2 – 3 minutes. Add this mixture to the loin in the crockpot.
4. Add the brown sugar to the crockpot.
5. Melt the butter in the same pot and saute the mushrooms. When they’re done, transfer them to a container and keep them in the fridge til right before serving time.
6. Add the oregano, rosemary, tomato puree, diced tomatoes and wine to the crockpot.
7. Cover and cook 6 – 7 hours on low. You may want to check the temp. Mine reached 145º after about 4 hours. Overcooking seems to be an issue with using the crockpot.
8. Once your meat has reached the desired temp, add the sauteed mushrooms and the basil.

There was so much sauce left over and I was glad because the sauce was great! This recipe made enough for us to eat the pork with sauce for 2 dinners, and I froze a good chunk of the pork with sauce for another dinner, then Vince had several sandwiches with it.

I made meatballs and had enough for one dinner, meatball sandwiches for lunch and froze a batch of sauce with meatballs.